Canada has resumed issuing invitations to apply for permanent residency under its Express Entry scheme, the primary source of skilled foreign workers in the North American country.
This was announced by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, who declared, “I am pleased to announce that Express Entry draws have officially resumed and applications will be processed at our six-month processing standard.”
The invitation rounds for all programs were put on hold due to a backlog of applications caused by border closures in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
A total of 1,500 invitations were issued on July 6 under Canada’s first all-programme Express Entry draw since December 2020 for permanent residence applications and 226th since the 2015 launch of Express Entry, according to the CanadaVisa website.
Previous all-programmes invitation rounds usually averaged around 3,000 to 5,000 invitations to apply for permanent residence. Draws for the Canadian Experience Class were put on hold in September 2021.
The Canadian Experience Class is a prominent option for temporary foreign workers and international graduates with work experience to get permanent residence
The other two skilled worker programs managed by Canada’s Express Entry system – Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) were put on hold in December 2020.
While a job offer is not required in order to be eligible under the Express Entry system, it adds additional points to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) used to evaluate candidates based on their human capital for granting permanent residency.
The CRS score is based on criteria such as age, education, language skills and work experience.
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